UK on target for cut in child poverty

The number of children in Britain living in poverty has fallen in the past 10 years, the United Nations said yesterday, but the government may need to raise taxes to keep the momentum going.

Britain is among only seven of the world's 24 richest countries where child poverty had fallen, said Unicef. In Britain, 15.4% of children were living in poverty - defined as households with income below 50% of the national median. The government should reach its target of cutting child poverty by a quarter by 2005, but reducing it by half by 2010 would be more difficult.

Jonathan Bradshaw, professor at the department of social policy, York University, said: "Reducing child poverty further is going to be harder since most of the cuts that have so far been achieved are a result of Britain's lower unemployment levels." Britain needed to increase benefits to those in and out of work and could fund this higher spending with higher taxes.

A Treasury spokeswoman welcomed the report. "As a result of the government's personal tax and benefit measures, since 1997 families with children will be on average £1,300 a year better off - those in the poorest fifth of the population will be on average £3,000 a year better off."

If child poverty were measured as 40% of median income, Britain rises higher up the table - suggesting it was doing better than other countries for the poorest children, said the report. Even though it praised government efforts to make the reduction of child poverty a priority, it said Britain had one of the highest rates of child poverty among developed nations. Only Norway had low child poverty that is continuing to fall.

The number of children living in poverty had risen in 17 out of the 24 richest nations, amounting to 40-50 million children. David Bull, director of Unicef UK, said: "These are countries where there are no excuses for children living in poverty. Governments are allowing child poverty."

The report identified three forces determining child poverty: social trends, labour market conditions and government policies. A rise in the average age of parents, the educational age of mothers and the proportion of mothers in work tends to increase economic resources for children.

Higher government spending on family and social benefits is associated with lower child poverty. On average, government interventions reduce the rates of child poverty by 40% more than market forces.